Anniversary vacation
by Liphuggers
Summary: ONE-SHOT... Eric and Calleigh go on vacation for their 3rd anniversary. Eric surprises Calleigh with a trip to somewhere she's never been and something she's never done.


**Just a little one-shot I thought of when I went skiing during opening week at my favorite ski mountain. I hope everyone enjoys it!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the show, the characters or the song...**

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Calleigh was in her kitchen making dinner. After a long day of work she didn't want to slave over dinner, but being a southern lady, home cooked meals where always from the heart. She needed something out of the refrigerator, she walked over to it but before she opened it, a picture on it caught her eye. It was a picture of Eric and her on the beach three years ago. She smiled at the memory, their first anniversary vacation. In the Bahamas, at that time they were still keeping their relationship quiet. They paid their friends and co-workers so they could get the same vacation time, and had to speak with Rick Stetler when they got back. She remembered that vacation very, very well. Calleigh smiled and shook the cloud of memories away.

Eric used his key in her door that she had given him last year on their anniversary. He smiled as he remembered her excitement when they exchanged gifts. He took off his shoes and coat and called for her. He heard her respond from the kitchen. He stopped in the doorway and leaned against the door jam. She had her hair in a sloppy ponytail, his old t-shirt that was tied up in the back, showing just the tiniest piece of milky white skin, fold over yoga pants and she was barefoot. It took a hard day for her to kick off her heels. Eric licked his lips and hugged her from behind. She laughed as he placed dozens of little kisses on her cheek.

"Miss me?" She said continuing to prepare dinner.

"Mmhhmm." He growled in her ear.

"Did you win your case today?"

"Yes I did, I think it was the power suit that did it. You know you have to look good to explain forensics." Eric said as his hands traveled from her stomach under her shirt and rubbed his hands against her hips. She stopped making dinner and turned in his grasp. "Hi."

"Hi." She said back as her green eyes sparkled. He bent down to kiss her on the lips. With her eyes still closed, the corners of her mouth turned up.

"What?" He asked with a hint of a laugh behind it.

"I think it's funny that every time you have a good day defending our science, I'm the one that always picks your clothes out the night before." She said opening her eyes to see that infamous Delko grin that made her melt every time.

"Well I think that's the rule, to make sure your boyfriend looks presentable. Thank you I always appreciate you doing that for me."

"Thank you, I didn't know you felt that way." She smiled and he kissed her forehead and turned her around.

"Get back to preparing, and I'll get changed, and come back and help the most beautiful woman on the planet finish our dinner." She blushed and he gave her another kiss on the cheek.

33333

While eating dinner, their conversation ranged from work, friends and the latest news. Until Calleigh said, "So why did you have me pack a bag filled with a few days worth of warm winter wear, that I had to buy. Where are we going for our anniversary trip?" She and Eric both took the week off from work.

"I told you, tonight you would find out, didn't I?" He said as he smiled again. Calleigh huffed and puffed but he didn't budge. "Later tonight," is all he kept saying.

33333

While sitting on the couch and watching TV, the cute couple were snuggled up together, Eric was laying down on his back while Calleigh lay on her side squished between her dude and the back cushions of the couch. "Hey," Eric said. "You know what?" Calleigh shook her head lazily, she was probably falling asleep. He kissed the top of her head. "It's later." Calleigh got up on her elbow and looked at him. _Yep, she was definitely about to fall asleep._

Calleigh blinked and smiled, "Where are we going?" She asked as she let out a big yawn.

"Oh no, I'm not telling you." He laughed, she looked confused. "It's a scavenger hunt."

She rolled her eyes; she was way too tired to be doing this. "Eric…" She started as he kissed her forehead.

"Go look in my coat's inside pocket." She got up and sleepily walked to his coat. She found his pocket and pulled out two airline tickets, with the destination blocked out. She looked at them they were for the day after tomorrow, the day their vacation started. She came back with a confused look.

"Where are we flying to?"

"Babe, it's a scavenger hunt, please I worked hard on this."

"Fine, where to next?" She sounded a bit annoyed. He laughed and told her to sit down and listen to the song he was about to play. He sat up and pressed play on his ipod. Calleigh cuddled into his side as they listened to the Jay-Z, Alicia Keys song. _"__...tell by my attitude that I'm MOST DEFINITELY FROM... New York. Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York! These streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York, New York, New York…"_ Calleigh pressed pause on his ipod. "City or somewhere else in the state?"

"Freezer."

"Ok sweet cheeks, I'll continue to play your game. I'll just remember this later." She sauntered her way into the kitchen knowing he would be watching her walk away, although she did kick it up a notch and added a bit more sway in her hips. He watched her walk away and he bit his bottom lip. She knew everything to do to him for her to get her way, not this time though.

She opened the freezer door and to her surprise she found a note on the ice that says, "Think of what this looks like shaved." Her confusion became more intense. "Shaved ice looks like shaved ice. What is he thinking?" She tried to think of what he could be thinking. Well it was winter time, and they are going somewhere in New York. "Snow," she whispered to herself. She ran back and jumped onto the couch next to Eric. He looked at her as she sat on her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck. "So, you're flying me to New York where we are going to see snow."

"Hmm, CSI Duquesne you almost got it. But I believe you're missing a clue." He looked at her and leaned in for a kiss. She pulled back right before their lips touched.

"No way Delko, no sweet southern kisses for you until to tell me what I'm missing." She felt him exhale on her face and neck. He laughed and smiled that was her undoing. "Ok, maybe one." They engaged in what they both thought would be a simple kiss, soon grew into a passionate kiss that left both slightly out of breath.

"Cal, you want your last clue?" He said as his hands wandered the sides of her body.

"Mmhmm." Was all she could muster up to say, staring into his beautiful brown eyes and concentrating on his hands. Eric's eyes moved to the partially opened laptop. Her eyes followed, she looked back at him and smiled, he nodded towards it and she moved to get it. She put the laptop on his lap and opened it. Eric smiled and put his arm around her as she saw the picture that was his desktop wallpaper. I was from this past summer at a party Ryan had in his backyard. Natalia had taken the picture and sent it to him. The picture was of Eric basically tackling Calleigh into the pool. The memory flooded both of their minds. Natalia was so happy she had her camera on her. Everyone laughed when the two surfaced, Calleigh was the only on that wasn't laughing. She didn't want to get wet, but wanted to see how warm the water was so went to dip her toes in. That's when Eric took his cue. She was so mad at him, but of course he said he was sorry and smiled. She couldn't stay mad at him for that. "So what am I looking for?"

"Look at the file that's open at the bottom." She snuggled impossibly closer to him and smiled, the last clue to their anniversary getaway. She opened the file, it was a picture of a person skiing down a mountain, and another picture with a couple with skis slung over their shoulders and walking up to a cozy, romantic cabin in the woods.

Calleigh thought for a minute and then kissed Eric, "We are flying to New York to go skiing and then spend our nights in a cute little cabin in the woods?" She asked sounding quite confident.

"Like I've said before, you know me too well." He kissed her and added a few more short and sweet kisses. With that they went to bed and dreamed of the excitement that their vacation would bring.

33333

They had one more day at work catching the bad guys and defending those with science, people asking where they were going and what they would do and last minute packing. The following day the couple was tired and glad the two and a half hour flight to New York was almost empty. The two shared glances and held hands and even shared a few intimate kisses. They touched down in Albany, New York and rented a car, did a little food shopping at the local food store, and went to find their cabin. It was getting late and the sun was setting fast. It was a very cozy looking cabin, an A-frame house with a small deck that had a bunch of wood piled under it. Eric took Calleigh's hand and they walked in, it was dark and a little chilly inside. Eric reached for the light switch and turned it on. It was a beautiful place inside. Calleigh's eyes went wide with amazement. Right inside the door was the living room that had a couch, a stationary chair and two rocking chairs all facing each other and a coffee table in the middle. Across from the living room was the kitchen and a small little dining table to the left of it. A couple of feet behind the rocking chairs was a fireplace. Eric immediately went into a room just behind the fireplace and dropped their bags off. Calleigh explored more and found a small bathroom and two bedrooms opposite the room where Eric went. There was a small staircase that broke the living room and the kitchen/dining room up. Calleigh went up the man-made wood stairs. She got to the top and looked over the railing. It was such a cute cabin and wondered how Eric could afford it, much less found it. She turned around and it was a small office with a desk, a phone, and a fax machine. There were no other electronics, no TV, no radio. Very romantic. Calleigh smiled as she thought that Eric might have done this for them, all they seemed to do lately was come home from work, eat dinner and veg out on the couch and watch TV. She finally came down the stairs, and Eric held his hand out to help her down the last few steps.

"Thank you, a true gentleman."

Eric blushed a bit and pulled her into a hug, "Your welcome, anything for my lady. How do you like the place?"

She looked up at him and smiled, "I love it, but how did you find it? And another thing do you know how to ski?"

He knew these questions would come sooner or later. "I dated a girl whose parents owned a couple of these houses, we went out for a few years and her parents always took me skiing on their family vacations. Since we broke up her parents always call me, every year, and ask if I want to come up. This year they were very surprised that they insisted on giving us this house to stay in. Your second question, my buddy that I used to work with on the Underwater Recovery team with is a big snowbird. So he's taken me skiing quite a number of times, and that's how I learned. I'm good enough that I can teach you." She couldn't resist she had to kiss him, as she pulled away she shivered. "Are you cold?" She nodded. "Let me start a fire."

"How do you know how to build a fire?"

"Come on, after three years of dating and 12 years of friendship you don't remember my mom had me in boy scouts for years? I'm hurt Calleigh." She couldn't see him because he was facing the fireplace, but she thought she heard the hurt in his voice, she regretted saying that. She knew he was in boy scouts and was teased in high school for it. But he had survival knowledge that not many high school boys did. She went over to him and pressed her hand on his back, she looked at him with sorry eyes. His lips turned upwards, "Cal, you think I'm really hurt? I know you know that about me, you're just not used to me putting my skill in action. Come here." He pulled her down in between his legs on the hearth. He showed her how to build a fire, he knelt behind her, whispered in her ear how to build it, and if she needed help his big strong hands where around her arms for help. After the fire was built and roaring they just sat there for a bit and warmed up.

When Calleigh was warm she went to move to take off her jacket, she noticed the fireplace didn't have a back, but instead another glass on the other side. She turned around to Eric who smiled sleepily at her. He nodded that she could check it out. She opened the door, and noticed a soft flickering light and knew it had to be the fireplace. She walked over to it, she was right, it was a double sided fireplace, she went back to the door and turned on the light. It was a bedroom, a big bedroom. There was a window over the bed and three doors, two to the left and one to the right. She went to the left first. It was two big closets with dressers in them. She wondered what the other door was. She opened it and was met with darkness and a few soft flickering lights that looked like candles. She walked in and noticed they were candles, she flipped on the light and saw a big beautiful bathroom, a jetted tub filled and rose petals floating on top. There was a his and hers sink, a steam shower and another door. She opened it; it was a washer and dryer. She came back out and found the rocking chairs moved out of the way with the coffee table and couch moved closer to the fireplace. He was laying on the couch with his eyes closed. She smiled and walked over to him, laid on top of him. He immediately put his arms around her to secure her from falling off.

"Do you want to take a bath with me to loosen your muscles for tomorrow?" Her southern accent accentuated by the whisper of her voice.

His eyes opened and his infamous Delko grin splayed across his face. He nodded and moved his hip to get her to move. She held his hand and led him into the master bathroom. "How did you know you need to loosen up your muscles?"

She replied with a wink as she started to undress, "I didn't." And he kicked the door closed.

33333

The first day, Calleigh and Eric got their lift tickets and headed to the rental office. Calleigh wasn't too thrilled with the idea of not having a heel on the ski boot but she learned very quickly that heels and ski boots don't go together. Eric helped her with her boots and then helped her bundle up. He smiled when she put her hat on; it had ear flaps and a pompom on top. She looked so cute and he had a need for his lips to be on hers. After a satisfying kiss, they held hands and hit the slopes. He taught her the basics, how to turn and stop. They spent the day on the bunny hills. Calleigh had told him if he wanted to leave her for a bit and ski by himself she would sit and rest. He did two runs on different trails and came back to her.

"Hey, do we have time to do more?" She asked sounding hopeful.

"Your legs aren't hurting?"

She slapped him on the arm looked around and with an embarrassed toned drawled, "Eric!"

"Not from that Querida." He laughed. He looked at her and kissed her. "I love you. From the boots you crazy woman."

"Oh." She said, blushed and laughed with embarrassment. But with him she knew she shouldn't be embarrassed. He made mistakes too. "Umm, I guess they hurt, but I want to do one more run."

"Ahh, you've been bit by the skiing bug haven't you?" Calleigh smiled and nodded. "I think we better not. I was a great day and we have four more days to ski, and trust me your legs will hurt."

"Ok. I love you too."

They kissed and loaded the car with their equipment and went back to the cute little cabin.

33333

Their last night at the cabin the two sat on the couch, the fire was roaring and laughter erupted every once in awhile.

"You want another glass of wine babe?" Calleigh asked as she went to get up.

"Yeah I do, but let me get it, you're legs hurt. I told you didn't I that you're legs would hurt where you're boots left off and you're thighs from turning?"

She nodded as he came back with two glasses of Chardonnay wine. He sat down and put his glass on the table and took her legs, turned her entire body so she was perpendicular to him and started to massage her calves and thighs. She looked at him questioningly but smiled. "What are you thinking about?" She asked.

"How we wasted those couple of months not being together really, when we first started to go out. Then when I left CSI, I couldn't take it, not solving crimes, not being able to solve a murder, help people out, seeing you everyday…" His voice wandered off and he looked at her. She took a sip of her wine. She remembered the hurt she felt when she was lied to by the one man she thought would never lie to her. The pain she felt that she shot at him when he was fleeing the warehouse with Sharova. She felt the pain when they found him on the side of the road after he crashed the car and brought him to the hospital. Those months that their trust was broken, she spent crying and wishing that he hadn't lied. When he was out of the hospital they both went under investigation about the shooting at the warehouse, they were working on their trust issues for many weeks after that. But she felt she lost a part of herself when he told her he was leaving CSI. Then went to Puerto Rico to live for awhile; they kept in touch over the phone, but it wasn't the same. When he came back and took the job with the state attorney like she suggested, the two started seriously dating again.

"Yeah, but it made us stronger don't you think?"

He took a sip of his wine, put it back down, leaned over and kissed her. "Yes I do. Hey, did you have a great anniversary week?"

She looked around the cabin, and back at him. He was still massaging her legs. "I did, I was really surprised. I don't know how you can top this. I love you so much Eric." She got up on her knees and kissed him. They kissed very passionately, so much so that Calleigh started to climb into his lap. He stopped her; she searched his face for a reason.

He gave her body the once over and his hands traveled her upper body. "I love you more then you know, and I think I can top it, or at least try. How about we exchange gifts?"

Calleigh's eyes went wide with excitement; she jumped off his lap and ran into the bedroom where she had his gift, ran back into the living room and sat down on the couch. He smiled; she was like a kid in a candy store. He went into the bedroom and pulled out a medium sized box out of the closet. He smiled and exhaled. He came back into the living room, set the gift down and walked over to the lights. He turned them off; she turned and looked at him as one of her eyebrows raised and one side of her mouth curled. "It's our anniversary; a little romance is in order." He sat down on the couch and they exchanged small little kisses. "Me first."

"Hey, what about ladies first?" She said placing her hands on the box for her.

"Because I know you are way too excited to see the look on my face and I want to go first. Please?"

"Fine, hurry though." He smiled and tore the wrapping paper off. He opened it and it was a piece of paper with the latest diving gear. He looked at her with bewilderment coursing through him. "I bought you new dive gear, what you have now is getting old and I don't want anything happening to you." He smiled and kissed her about five times. He was really excited.

Then butterflies came to his stomach as she started to unwrap her gift. He took a deep breath in and let it out. She turned to him and smiled. He loved when she smiled; every time she did it reached her striking green eyes. He knew what he would say when he had to explain the gift.

She flipped open the top and was met with another box surrounded by tissue paper. Her eyebrows came together as she opened the next box. There she was face to face with yet another box, but not just an ordinary box, a small, black, velvet box. Calleigh's heart pumped harder in her chest, her breathing became labored as she lifted it out of the box. She looked at Eric, _maybe it's just a pair of earrings or a really adorable necklace, although a ring would be better, it's time, isn't it?_ She realized that she was staring and she turned her attention back to the box, she got tunnel vision, she didn't even know that Eric got off the couch; it was only until he took the box out of her hands that she noticed.

"Calleigh," He took a deep breath in and out. "from the first day I asked for your number when I was working in the towing business I've had this attraction to you, a friendship developed when I signed on to CSI and soon we became best friends. Our other best friend was shot in the line of duty and we needed each other more. We've been through so much. When I got shot, I died for a bit. I was shown a life that I had yet to lead, you were in it, and I wanted everything to have that life. You helped me that year, get back on my feet, I can't thank you enough. I tried so hard to deny my feelings, because you were with someone else. My heart…" He swallowed knowing this was hard to bring up. "My heart was crushed when you kept going back to him. He wasn't the guy for you, but something in me told me to wait, you'll come around. I would have waited forever for you. Then you were kidnapped, and I think that's when you finally realized that there was more than just friendship between us. When Doctor Marsh and her daughter were killed you received real confirmation how I felt for you, and I wouldn't want you to discover that any other way. We hit a rough patch our first year in dating, but here we are two years later. Calleigh every time I look at you, your eyes whisper to me, they speak of love, devotion, loyalty and trust. They sparkle after I kiss you, and if what they say is true, that the eyes are the window to the soul, I want to make them sparkle forever." With that he opened the box revealing a white gold ring with a 1 ½ karat princess cut stone, there were triplet stones on the side that accented the center stone magnificently. The band came up and twisted along the sides of the stones.

Calleigh was taken aback. All she could do look between the box and Eric. Tunnel vision set in again, her mouth opened and her right hand came up to her chest, where she could monitor her heart rate and her breathing. Her eyes had been clouding with tears as he spoke, she blinked and tears fell. More tears formed and fell. She couldn't believe that this was happening, what he said was so stunning that she couldn't speak. She did the only thing her body allowed her to do; she leaned into him and kissed him. They pulled apart and he wiped her tears as they rested their foreheads together. She put her left hand out and told him that it would be her honor to fulfill his dream. They smiled and kissed, he slipped the ring on her slender finger and she admired it for awhile as he sat back on the couch with his arm around her. "Eric, it's… it's just so beautiful."

"It's nothing compared to you." He smiled and leaned in for a kiss. She complied and the two shared a kiss that was so dizzying and filled with love that Eric stopped and looked at her. Green sparkling diamonds. He kissed her one more time and got up. He held his hand out for her; she smiled and bit her bottom lip. He wrapped his arms around her waist, kissed her uncontrollably and walked her backwards into the bedroom to finish their anniversary night.


End file.
